After Hours
by Sango's Counterpart
Summary: After a series of midnight adventures, the Weasley twins discover they aren't the only ones wandering the castle past curfew...


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. You must have me mistaken with JKR.

A/N: I intend to make this a series of Cho/Cedric vignettes. This one is a bit Weasley-heavy, but that's because the twins are too fun to _not_ include.

* * *

-After Hours-

The Weasley twins were hungry. After successfully infiltrating Filch's office, unearthing a number of promising items from a cabinet marked "Confiscated—Highly Dangerous," and narrowly dodging Peeves several times, the twins promptly headed toward the kitchens to celebrate their midnight adventure. Stealthily descending a staircase to the second floor, turning left at the one-eyed witch statue, and continuing down a long corridor, they could just make out the familiar, triumphant fruit bowl painting that served as the kitchen entrance when they heard a female voice from not too far away.

"Cedric, that tickles!"

This was quickly followed by muted giggling. Fred and George immediately halted their footsteps and stared at each other with a mix of silent admiration and shock. Diggory was out past curfew? With a _girl_? After the initial surprise had worn off, they broke into identical grins, whispered _Lumos!_, and quietly approached the source of their curiosity.

* * *

For perhaps the first time in his life, Cedric Diggory was breaking a rule. He could just imagine the crestfallen expression on his father's face if he knew his only son was sneaking about this late. But to be fair, Cedric reasoned, he was standing only a few feet away from the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. If anything, _she _was the one who should be worrying about getting caught—the Ravenclaw Tower was a fair distance from where they were. As he tightened his arms around her, he vaguely reminded himself that he really should be escorting her back to her dormitory, but he couldn't get over how soft her hair was. After all, he thought to himself, if she wasn't worried about being discovered, he really shouldn't be either. But just as this thought registered in his mind, he felt a pair of lights shining on the two of them.

"What do we have here? Sleepwalking?"

"More like sleep-snogging, I'd say."

"Really, George? '_Sleep-snogging'_! I refuse to believe that's the best you could come up with. But since it's pretty late—"

"—Hours past curfew, really—"

"—I'll let that one slip. I reckon you're just tired."

Cedric looked up and immediately recognized the identical, mischievous smirks of the Weasley twins. He instinctively detached himself from Cho Chang and stared speechlessly at the two ginger-haired boys staring at them. Cho let out a small gasp, but other than that, did not show any visible sign of nervousness. Cedric mustered up his best authoritative voice and approached the Weasleys, who were partially obscured by the brightness of the light emitting from their wands.

"Just what are you two doing in this part of the castle so late at night?"

Cedric's prefect badge glistened in the bluish white light, but the twins' grins did not waver.

"Not sure how far that angle is going to get you, mate," George said.

"We would ask you the same question, but I think it's pretty obvious what _you_ _two_ are doing in this part of the castle so late at night."

Cedric blinked. He exchanged an equally exasperated glance with Cho. Were they really going to play at this?

"Prefects are allowed to patrol the corridors. We're also allowed to enforce punishments."

"Ah! That's a much juicier angle. You were punishing Chang just now, I suppose? We were just heading over for a quick chat with the elves in the kitchens—"

"—Yeah, a chat about the leftover treacle tart from dinner—"

"—And we'd hate it if we let it slip that you, the perfect Diggory, were _abusing_ your prefect duties…"

* * *

Walking away from the kitchen portrait, arms laden with mini pies and an assortment of éclairs, the Weasley twins chuckled, half in awe, half in admiration of what they had just witnessed. They weren't sure how they had talked their way through this one, but the whole incident proved to be excellent blackmail the next (well, more like several) times the handsome prefect caught the two of them in search of a nighttime snack after hours.

"Ah, Diggory? Where's Chang tonight? George and I always enjoy a good show."

* * *

A/N: Oh, Fred and George... I love writing about these two so much. Oh! And, um... Cho and Cedric are fun as well. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed!


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